I am making pet tags and want to be able to darken the letters so they pop out better. I am using aluminum and brass. Engraving with either my New Hermes or my Scripta Panograph machines. Can someone recommend a good oxidizer or better process to darken the letters? Thank you,
Question: Oxidizers for brass and aluminum?
- Thread starter dafinn
- Start date
scott99
Elite Cafe Member
I don't know the wear factor that your engravings will encounter but many people just use Rustolium flat black paint. I use this method myself with great results. Easy to do and easy to redo if needed.There is a tutorial in the tips section. But basicaly flood the engraving and wipe away the exsess with your finger,bam your done. Thanks to THE GREAT LEADER SAM for this one.
scott99
scott99
dlilazteca
~ Elite 1000 Member ~
rayf24
Elite Cafe Member
Brentwood and Casey have a paste and liquid for both which works well could be worth a look
Ray
Ray
Ray,
I think you mean Birchwood Casey. They sell bluing products which will blacken brass, as well as a product called AlumaBlack, if I recall correctly. The downside is that you have to go back and polish off everything on the surface. Whereas with the paint products, you only need wipe the surface clean.
I think you mean Birchwood Casey. They sell bluing products which will blacken brass, as well as a product called AlumaBlack, if I recall correctly. The downside is that you have to go back and polish off everything on the surface. Whereas with the paint products, you only need wipe the surface clean.
or-- take a childs' wax crayon of the color you want,warm the tag just a bit with a blo dryer, rub the crayon filling the engraving. with paper pieces, smooth off the excess wax. i'll say this, if you're doing this with the diamond drag method, the resulting "engraving" is so shallow, it may not retain paint , wax, or any other concoction. i'd suggest buying colored, annodized aluminum tags for this type work. the engraving will show a nice silver color against the background color. jm2cw better yet, use the panto to do the layout-- then hand engrave over the design/ text.
rayf24
Elite Cafe Member
Yes it should have read birchwood. Bloody iPhone will put in predetermined text and I didn't check it
Thanks for pointing it out
Ray
Thanks for pointing it out
Ray
contact bannister engraving in new jersey, or ability plastics.com-cicero, ill. both firms sell all the goodies a pantoman could ever want.
Ron Spokovich
Elite Cafe Member
- Joined
- Dec 27, 2012
- Messages
- 436
Although my supply is depleted, kept in a ground glass stoppered bottle, I had a little of antimony trichloride or antimony pentachloride. Bruce Beebe gave me a little years ago. One takes a Q-tip with the liquid on, and wipes the surface filling everything. Then, wipe off the unwanted black with a flat ink or pencil eraser. Old pocket watches were done, inside, with this technique. The stuff may not wear well, and be hard to obtain, but it's very quick to do, and not messy although I cannot vouch for its hazard or toxicity. There are other products that may work as well.
i used to use antimony pentachloride to produce a beautiful patina on brass items. a nice blue/green patina formed in about 10 minutes if the brass was heated a bit. was not too useful for articles such as buckles or items that got handled a lot. matter of fact, due to the nasty nature of the stuff, i'd always use a bit of paste wax over the stuff. in it's liquid form is quite caustic to the skin. it can cause serious chemical burns if the stuff is reasonable in strength. not a good thing to use if not used to handling this kind of stuff.
doug
Member
Ive used tru black from monsterslayer it works on brass copper and nickle dont know about aluminum.It works fairly well but you do have to lightly sand the excess off the surface and if your cuts are shallow it may not stay in the cuts after sanding but it works well in medium to deep engraving.
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